MY BATTERY DIED AND I HAVE CORRODED BATTERY CABLES

1998 Honda Accord • 150,000 miles

Hello, the car I am dealing with is a 1998 Honda Accord LX 4 cyl Automatic. About two months ago the battery died on me. I replaced the battery with a mid-grade (not the cheapest, but not the most expensive) battery from Advance Auto Parts. The ground cable, from the ground post on the battery, to two grounds under the hood, was corroded so I replaced it as well. The aftermarket ground cable only had one place for me to bolt it to a ground, as to the factory cable that was grounded at two locations. Once I installed the battery, the car would do things such as A) thermometer gauge would jump around anytime I turned on headlights, rolled windows down/up, turned on high beam headlights B) when I would press brakes or turn highbeams on, all gauges would drop to 0. Radio would lose power and then turn back on. C) If I would hit a bump in the road it would lose power, gauges go to 0, radio lose power and restart. The other day I went to leave work, and hit a bump in the road. The car lost power, and cut off. I coasted to a parking lot and tried to restart the car. It will start, but cuts off immediately. Once it starts, if I press the gas pedal it doesn't rev up. It dies. It won't idle either. I've also noticed when I turn the ignition on there is some clicking that sounds like it's coming from the transmission gear shifter, in the center console. I towed it to my house today, and when I put it on the trailer tried to roll the windows down. They won't roll down now either. I have replaced the main relay, but that didn't change anything. I'm stuck and not sure what to do now. Any suggestions?They are all greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hello nc98hondaaccord. Sorry to hear you're having trouble with this. My first suggestion would be that you try adding a ground cable to the ground point that was left "orphaned" when you put the new ground cable in. If it was a ground to the engine block or head, that could explain why you are having so many problems. Also check the ground point that you did connect to, make sure it is clean of corrosion AND paint. A bad or partial ground can cause lots of problems. Let me know what you find and we'll go from there.